Hasta La Gadget!

CScout Japan is now hiring Trend Analysts and Project Managers to deal with another strong year of projects from our domestic and global client base. 2010 was our best year ever and saw tremendous growth in every market we’re active in. Now we’re restructuring, looking for another office in the Shibuya area, and bringing in fresh talent to propel us further!

We work with some of the world’s top companies to help them innovate and create new products and services for changing consumer markets. These range from quick market reports on a specific topic, to full-on ideation and innovation workshops around the globe.

The positions we’re filling are full-time, though we’re always on the lookout for qualified freelancers who fit certain niche needs. Starting salaries depend on skills and experience, and there is generous vacation time.

Your job:
– Coordinating projects in Japan, as well as with our offices in NYC, São Paolo, and Mexico City
– Keeping the public informed about the latest in the market at JapanTrends.com
– Researching specific topics, from mobile to automotive, to keep our clients up to speed
– Planning Trend Tour market immersions
– Creating custom reports on market trends

Your qualifications:
– Residence in Tokyo
– Valid visa for working in Japan
– Unending curiosity about the Japanese market
– Ability to track and analyze trends
– Multitasking
– Bilingual English & Japanese (more also a plus!)
– Versatile writing style
– Familiarity with both Microsoft & Apple office suites

Pluses:
– An eye for design
– Outgoing personality
– Video / Photo shooting & editing skills
– International experience
– Enthusiasm for social media, both Japanese and English

While we appreciate the heaps of international inquiries we receive, these positions are only for the Japanese market and require a current Japanese visa. Please inquire via our contact form if you are interested in joining our growing global team!

A fun internet campaign by fast food chain McDonald’s is currently offering a discount coupon every day if you can answer questions about dishes and ingredients.

The Daily Quiz Show site is designed to look like a “live” American TV quiz show, complete with cheesy host Mr. beef (sic), who seems to have stepped out of the Seventies. (Is it just me or does he look a bit like KFC’s Colonel Sanders? Coincidence, I am sure. Surely better than the despised Mr. James at any rate.)

If you get the question right you then win a coupon downloadable by QR code, but you do already have to be a member of the McDonald’s mobile phone loyalty club. By tweeting your result you also stand a chance to win a further 2,000 yen’s worth (about $24) of McDonald’s grub, which is at least a big handful of hamburgers.

As you would guess from its name, though, visitors are only allowed to try the quiz once a day — probably a good way to moderate your frequency of dining at McDonald’s anyway, with coupon or without.

[Via Kokokukaigi]

Lotte has opened a “handmade chocolate support house” in youth shopping district Harajuku for a limited time as a lead-up to Valentine’s Day.

No, it’s not a shelter for recovering confectionery addicts. Promoting chocolate product Ghana, it’s a kind of pop-up store/workshop space where visitors can get lessons in how to make the cutest, most romantic chocolate gifts. There is even a “rescue corner” on February 13th, a pseudo-consultation booth for girls who are getting desperate about what to make for their boyfriend the day before Valentine’s.

[Opening event picture via Oricon]

Lotte has also released a free iPhone app offering recipes for those in need of chocolate culinary inspiration. The digital support continues at the event space too: it features reference charts of lots of recipes with QR codes for visitors to download the content to their phone.

Puma is supporting the sports lifestyle of the “after hours athlete” through its new temporary Puma Social Club space in Shibuya, following on from other similar projects around the world.

Offering visitors the chance to indulge in games like ping pong, foosball and darts, the club is half pop-up branch, half nightlife entertainment space. Operating only after six p.m., every day it is running a full schedule of DJs and games. Some of the latter are found in lots of bars (e.g. pool) but others are more original choices, such as Jenga, which can surely only lead to architectural disaster after a few drinks.

Judging from blogs it looks pretty stylish inside and also includes a line of Puma products on display.

The club is free to get in and opened on January 29th. It closes on February 5th, though, so you’d better get your running shoes on.

Garbage in Tokyo is pretty well managed to at least appear to be “eco“, though not as strictly as outside of the capital. Back in the days when we were living in Mie Prefecture, neighbors would constantly monitor the trash bags on the curb to make sure that they didn’t contain prohibited items like (horror!) cans or (horror of horrors!) plastic or glass bottles. Those had to go out on a different day, and were even sorted on the curb by color. Tokyo doesn’t go that far, but we still have to buy the properly labeled garbage bags or they won’t get picked up. Of course, some produce more garbage than others!

Given space limitations, it’s not hard to see why McDonalds would need to pile tons of garbage on the curb for pick-up, but I was pretty surprised to see it all right there in front of the restaurant entrance.

Then, two nights later, I was out with a client from the beverage industry, and he couldn’t help laughing when a Vitamin Water branded trash truck filled with bags came by. These guys were picking up the plastic PET bottles from bins, so it was recycling-based, but is it really such a great idea to associate your brand with piles of garbage?